[Gannu_1]

Uggggh! The L&T bypass road toll rates have been hiked since 22nd this month. From 31 to 45 Rs.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Uggggh! The L&T bypass road toll rates have been hiked since 22nd this month. From 31 to 45 Rs.

I would never pay that much for that so called bypass which is only a 2 lane. If it’s less crowded, I would rather go inside Coimbatore.

[binand]

Originally Posted by treadmark

I would suggest Alathur ~ Kuzhalmanam ~ Mathur ~ Kottayi (Right just before Kottayi) ~ Parali ~ Mundur

Seems to me this saves only about 5-6 km; is it worth it to avoid the NHDP route via Chandranagar for that? Will there be much time savings?

Originally Posted by treadmark

Kongad ~ Cherpulaserry ~ Perinthalmanna ~ Malapuram ~ Calicut.

This is hearsay - my brother, who drives Calicut-Palakkad frequently, says that he finds Perinthalmanna-Manjeri-Arekode-Edavannapara-Peruvayal-Calicut much easier and less crowded to drive.

Originally Posted by treadmark

Alathur ~ Khuzhalamanam ~ Kottayi ~ Mankara ~ Mangalam ~ Varode ~ Cherpulaserry and the above option from then ON

Mundur-Perinthalmanna doesn't enter Cherpulassery town. This route does. And it is a painful town to cross (like pretty much all KL towns). Be aware of that.

[treadmark]

Originally Posted by i20ian

Any idea about the road condition after mankara till cherpulassery? Was not that good a couple of months back when I took that route.

Mankara to Mangalam is wide and good tarmac, Mangalam to Varode is narrow with not that good Tarmac with sparse traffic, Varode to Cherpulaserry is relatively wider but still not rubberised road that you see in main and State Highways

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Uggggh! The L&T bypass road toll rates have been hiked since 22nd this month. From 31 to 45 Rs.

It was 31 when I drove on 21st Jan. So now we pay more to slow us down badly.

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

I would never pay that much for that so called bypass which is only a 2 lane. If it’s less crowded, I would rather go inside Coimbatore.

The point is it will be crowded unless it's midnight and very early in the morning, again you need to be careful at multiple junction signals. Not to forget the speed breaker between Athupalam and Madukkarai

Originally Posted by binand

Seems to me this saves only about 5-6 km; is it worth it to avoid the NHDP route via Chandranagar for that? Will there be much time savings?

Even if we byepass Palakkad through the byepass, still will loose more time from Olavakode Puthiyapalam till Puthupariyaram
No such things on the other one till Mundur kootupatha

This is hearsay - my brother, who drives Calicut-Palakkad frequently, says that he finds Perinthalmanna-Manjeri-Arekode-Edavannapara-Peruvayal-Calicut much easier and less crowded to drive.

Have been to Arekode during early 2016 and found the traffic to be less than. I would try this option next time since it looks worth giving a try if you imagine the traffic on Malapuram NH

Mundur-Perinthalmanna doesn't enter Cherpulassery town. This route does. And it is a painful town to cross (like pretty much all KL towns). Be aware of that.

Agreed!

[sparky@home]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Uggggh! The L&T bypass road toll rates have been hiked since 22nd this month. From 31 to 45 Rs.

Even with the hiked rates, it is advisable to use this road, as the traffic thru coimbatore is terrible to say the least. These chaps are just milking, knowing fully well the alternatives. I can't understand the reason though as they are not providing any extra benefits.

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by binand

Seems to me this saves only about 5-6 km; is it worth it to avoid the NHDP route via Chandranagar for that? Will there be much time savings?

There is no need to go chandranagar. The route from Chandranagar to Kongad is just 2 lane, during peak hours you will see decent traffic and overtaking is difficult due to the undulating and twisty terrain, also you could get stuck behind autos, buses, lpg tankers etc.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

THank you for the useful tip. Noted.
2nd leg driving time shown by gmaps is 6.5 hrs. Do you know of a good vegetarian restaurant for lunch stop enroute (tough in this region) with clean restrooms ? I will back calculate and set my morning departure after breakfast accordingly.

Just saw this place yesterday just after the Raviz Kadavu resort. Si Sri Annapoorna. Pure Veg. Looked good from outside and there seemed to be sufficient crowd. No idea about rest rooms though. Good thing is you will pass this even if you take the kuttikaatoor route.

Sri Sri Annapoorna
Azhinjilam, Ramanattukara, Azhinjilam, Kozhikode, Kerala 673632
089077 72772

https://goo.gl/maps/NgmkDqV6mdq

[binand]

Originally Posted by treadmark

Even if we byepass Palakkad through the byepass, still will loose more time from Olavakode Puthiyapalam till Puthupariyaram

That is only about 6-8km; and I don't think I've ever taken more than 15-20 minutes for this stretch.

Originally Posted by sansvk

The route from Chandranagar to Kongad is just 2 lane, during peak hours you will see decent traffic and overtaking is difficult due to the undulating and twisty terrain, also you could get stuck behind autos, buses, lpg tankers etc.

The route from Chandranagar to Olavakkode via the bypass is dual carriageway. As mentioned above, the single carriageway road starts only from Olavakkode. Further, traffic drops significantly once you take the Cherpulassery road from Mundur. Trucks and tankers take the NH route via Mannarkkad.

Basically, the problem stretch is only the approx. 8 km stretch from Olavakkode till Mundur.

[i20ian]

Took the kuzhalmannam kottayi parli kongad route while going to Calicut. And while returning took the mundur Chandranagar bypass route. The time taken is almost the same through both the routes. The difference in Kms is nearly 8kms. Road conditions are good on both stretches until kongad.

[agbenny]

If anyone planning to drive from Coimbatore to Mannarkad/Calicut Via Anakatti, just avoid the plan. From Silent valley till Tenkara, you will almost find no roads, Even SUVs will find it very difficult to manage.

[KVNair]

Survived the post-weekend rush back to Bangalore yesterday. In all my trips back to Bangalore, this one was the most time consuming and tiring.

To begin with, I had a late start from home and reached Coimbatore L&T road around 12:00 pm. The attendant just collected the hiked toll and let us through; the toll booth did not have any heads-up for the congestion that was waiting for us ahead and I too failed to check on google, and the end result is that we got caught in a massive jam after the second toll gate in middle of the “Jallikattu” event, which was conducted yesterday at Coimbatore. Got delayed and frustrated for over two hours in the traffic block that followed.

Thought I had passed the worst after clearing the L&T road, but traffic was higher with many cars returning from the longish weekend. Some of them were driving as if they wanted to deliberately cause accidents! Overtaking rashly without any warning from the left or right and cutting in front, even when you are maneuvering through those speed limiting gates or zig zag barricades. Utter painful drive all the way and then got caught in a traffic block due to an accident at the ghat section before Krishnagiri. Somehow crawled out of it wasting precious time, and observed the cause of accident was an i20 parked sideways with some panel damage in front of a college bus near the ghat exit where the road levels back. This minor incident had piled up traffic behind on the ghat with heavy laden trucks struggling the most. No sign of traffic cops even after such a huge congestion.

Further, at the Krishnagiri toll there was a 1 km long queue. Fast tag lane sign was not even visible, so I took a chance and got into the service road. Somehow managed to get through the toll after waiting for around 45 mins. Again, the next toll gate was the same scenario, had to struggle and crawl out of it. Used cash instead of fast tag in many tool gates, as the fast tag gate was much slower with lots of trucks parked in the lane. Overall, in this trip, I could use fast tag only twice :( It does not even qualify to be called “fast”!

Nearing Bangalore, as google maps was showing red traffic near Electronic city, I took a deviation through NICE road and finally reached home after driving for 10 long and tiring hours. I think going forward, it makes more sense to just avoid traveling by road when there is a longish public holiday or be ready to face all these unexpected events along the way.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by KVNair

and the end result is that we got caught in a massive jam after the second toll gate in middle of the “Jallikattu” event, which was conducted yesterday at Coimbatore.

I traveled on this route yesterday, but really early. Crossed Palakkad town by around 5AM, and crossed the "Jallikettu" area by around 5:45-6:00AM. At that point of time, the first set of police men were actually landing up in the area and there were lots of vehicles parked on both sides of the road; albeit completely at the sides of the road (slightly below the road level).

Further, at the Krishnagiri toll there was a 1 km long queue. Fast tag lane sign was not even visible, so I took a chance and got into the service road.

I crossed Krishnagiri toll by around 10:00-10:20Hrs and faced the same problem. There were four heavy trailer trucks on the FasTag lane, with none of them moving even after a wait for around 5 mins. The other lanes were empty and so I had to use that lane. When I complained, the operator said that "there are only 4-5 trucks there, you could have waited if you wanted to use FasTag". Gave me a feeling that this block was deliberately caused. Is there an online complaint registration portal for FasTag? Planning to send in this feed back. If FasTag is meant for slow moving trailer trucks no point in forcing others to buy it.

But I think it was at the Vaigundam toll (towards Coimbatore), that I actually saw two lanes dedicated for FasTag.

I think going forward, it makes more sense to just avoid traveling by road when there is a longish public holiday or be ready to face all these unexpected events along the way.

True. For me, earlier a three day holiday was a good break. Land up early morning the first day of the holiday and start the journey back late in the evening of the last day.

Earlier (as bachelors & young married couple) we also used to drive in the night. Then slowly that changed and we started driving down early mornings (at that time the entire stretch was not four lane highway). Return legs used to invariably start by around 12 noon or even 1 pm. Now thanks to the mad rush, we are forced to leave our home town early in the morning itself. So actual "vacation time" is going down.

[gadadhar]

Luck was on my side yesterday, I started from Munnar around 10 am and drove through Marayur, Udumalpet, Avinashi, Salem Bangalore route yesterday. I was prepared for the long waits at Toll Plazas due to the late start, but was surprised. Except for Krishanagiri where there was a 10 mts wait, I could just sail through all other places with the Fast Tag.

[ashwinsadeep]

Just like the other hapless souls on here, I also endured a drive from Kottayam to Bengaluru yesterday. Started @ 2PM, reached at 1:30AM with 2 small breaks.

First off, the section of NH within kerala is a joke. Between Cochin & Walayar, there are around 10-20 intersections where the NH traffic only has 20 seconds of green light. This is a stretch of almost 150-160km with 2 toll booths collecting Rs. 125 between them - Shouldn't NHAI be constructing flyovers at the junctions?

Then came the whole jalikatu thing at Coimbatore which wasted another hour, not to mention the retards who continued to use the high beams even when stand still.

After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing until Krishnagiri Toll where the queue started from the flyover itself. Attibelle toll was much the same. Suffice it to say, we wasted at least an hour between these two. Mind you, this was at 12AM.

That being said, FastTag helped in all other tolls - I'd say we saved 30 mins just because of FastTag.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by ashwinsadeep

First off, the section of NH within kerala is a joke. Between Cochin & Walayar, there are around 10-20 intersections where the NH traffic only has 20 seconds of green light. This is a stretch of almost 150-160km with 2 toll booths collecting Rs. 125 between them - Shouldn't NHAI be constructing flyovers at the junctions?

Tell me about it.
20 sec green for staying on NH, 20 sec green for left to right, 20 sec for right to left, 20 sec for opposite lane right-turn. Overall weightage for big volume highway toll paying user is 1/4 . Plus signal every 10 mins. The stretch between edapally and mannuthi takes 2 hrs during day, 2.5 hours during peak daytime hours. At night travel time is halved, 1 hour.
Morons should have planned and budgetted for flyovers when they anyway caused chaos during construction. I think the sheer number of flyovers needed would have been the detriment time-wise and budget wise. Still, they could have taken a middle approach - flyovers at extremely busy junctions at angamaly, chalakudi etc.